How HAPI Impacted Me (#9)
An essay series featuring retrospectives by HAPI members, staff, and leaders in celebration of its 8th Anniversary.
I grew up being constantly told to obey religious rules. Blinded by faith, I was hindered from doing so many things and learning a lot of concepts that could have been beneficial to my youth and other life experiences. I was judged, almost every time, as a terrible person for not believing the same things that others around me did. Being different and skeptical was not acceptable to the environment I belonged in. I was almost convinced that I was indeed what offended people around me used to define me with.
But this changed as soon as I joined Humanist Alliance Philippines, International and met people who believed the same things that I did. They welcomed me with the idea that it’s okay to explore and be critical of things around me. They did not just nourish my growth; they challenged and made me realize the potentials that I once feared to show. They mothered what I did not receive from the original foundations I had; they comforted the struggles and difficulties that once made me sad.
HAPI impacted my life by helping me accept and love who I truly was, who I am right now, and who I am about to become. I am yet to give back what I first received, and conflicts may sometimes hinder me from continuously contributing what I have — but my heart and support will remain grateful for all the things that every humanist does for everyone else.
In a society that’s still full of ailing norms, what we need is not for all these to conform. If we must break a toxic cycle, then we should start today. If we must oppose inequality and abuse, then we must not depend on faith and just blindly pray. If we must speak up the truth and open the eyes of others, then to a broken system and faulty rules we should not just obey… we must learn to build and become the best versions of ourselves to primarily help those people who, in this world, are the most deprived of wealth.
— Madelyne Gauna of HAPI Youth
